Grain-car door



(No Model.) V

DD. MILES.

' A GRAIN-GAR DOOR. No. 272,455. Patented Peb.20,' 18,83.

V WLZYLNESSES INVEWTOE 4 I &M/,' v I A .dttorrwy'f UNITED I STATES PATE T OFFICE.

DON MILES, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 170,272,455, dated February 20, 188 3.

Application filed August 16, 1882. (No model.)

of reference marked thereon, which form a' part of this specification.

My invention has for its object the avoid-' ance of swinging doors, of doors which are lifted off from the car, and so are liable to be lost or stolen, of those which slide laterally into a wall or partition, and of'that class of flexible doors consisting of a series of slats connected by joints or flexible material, and which are costly and liable to get frequently out of order. At the same time my invention aims to avoid the defects of that class of cardoors which are arranged to be held up in the roof or ceiling of the car when not in use or during the loading or unloading ofthe grain, &c.

It consists in a special construction, hereinafter described, by which solid or rigid doors may be easily run up and held in the ceiling of the car without hinging or swinging,'and without the need of buttons or latches for holding them when so run up, and in other details.

Figure 1 represents in perspective a portion of a car to which my improvement is applied; Fig. 2, a partial vertical section with the doors down; Fig. 3, a similar section with both doors raised and stowed in the ceiling, and Fig. 4 a

plan of one of the rigid doors with its end piu-' ties.

A and B are grooves, made preferably in cast-iron, A being vertical and at the-side or end of the car, and B being horizontal, or nearly so, and in the ceiling of the car. The top of groove A terminates before it reaches the mouth of groove B. This groove B is formed by the two ledges or lateral projections l 2, each of which, at its end nearest the wall of the car, has a downward incline or depres sion marked, respectively, at and e, and these parts d and 0 then curve upwardly, as shown at c 0, respectively, thus forming curved inlets and hooks adapted to receive the pintles on the doors, as hereinafter stated, these books being at the extreme ends of the parts 1 and 2. At the mouth of the lower groove, B, the upper wall of the groove flares or curves up- F, is pushed upward, its upper pintles ride over the curves 0, and, if desired, they may now be lodged in the upper depressions or hooks, thus holding this upper door suspend ed, with a wide open space between it and the lower door, F. If, however, it be desired to raise this upper door still higher and get it entirely overhead and stowed away in the car-ceiling, it is only necessary to push or lift it still farthe and the same upper piutles or guidepins, y, en ride upon the iuclineeof the upper groove, anthnotwithstanding the door is rigid it will continue to rise and to turn this curve, andthus the door may be pushed on until it shall leave the grooves A and be entirely upheld by the flange or ledge l, the pintles 9 then resting in the inner ends of such ledge, and the pintles g now dropping into the hooks c, which thus serve as a detent or stop to prevent the d'oor becoming dislodged from its elevated horizontal position. The lower door is then pushed up, and its upper pintles also lodged in the curves or depressions d, directly under the pintles of the previously-raised upper door; or this lower door may be pushed farther forward over the top walls of the grooves B, to carry its upper pintles out of the depressions d, and the lower pintles of this lower door may then lodge directly in the hooks 0, both doors then lying secure in the roof, one just above the other.

The grooves A and B and parts 1 and 2 and their hooked ends may all be cast integral with a single angle-plate, if desired.

It will be seen that the construction is simple, cheap, and most efficient. There is actually nothing to get out of order-no danger of the raised door dropping, as there is no mova- I GO ble hook, latch, or button to get displaced. There is no storage-space occupied at any time beyond the mere bulk of the door. No hinges, springs, levers, links, or adventitious appliances are needed, and the doors need no fric-. tion-rollers, and need not be detached from the car. It also permits a full load of any kind of grain to be carried without nailing (as is quite customary) a board on the top or above it.

I am aware that car-doors have been arranged to be run upward in grooves and lodged in the roof, and that roof-grooves have had flaring months and means for holding a single door only; but I am not aware of any in which more than one solid door or section of a solid door has been run up in the same vertical grooves and adapted to be lodged one above the other in the roof.

The doors may of course be secured in position, when the car is loaded, in any well-known manner.

I claim 1. The grooved guides for car-doors, consisting of the vertical grooves A, having the open tops, and the independent grooves B, having curved inlets and provided with the depressions d 6, whereby both the rigid doors may be raised in the same grooves A and both of them lodged in the roof, one directly above the other, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In combination with the vertical grooves A and with the grooves B, made with a depression, (l, as described, the rigid doorordoors, provided, as shown, with pintles adapted to run and lodge in said grooves.

DON D. MILES.

Witnesses:

GEo. HALE, J. A. EGLESTON. 

